PHYS 434 A: Application of Computers to Physical Measurement

Welcome to PHYS 434. While this course's official name, for historical reasons, is "Application Of Computers To Physical Measurement," it is a brand new advanced laboratory course and a more descriptive name would be "Advanced Data Analysis Techniques for Large Datasets." 

This is going to be the first time this course has been taught, and the labs, lectures, and course materials are all brand new. As such there are going to be some growing pains as we debug the labs and the homework and try to teach an entirely new course. I think we will learn a lot of very interesting material, but this is an experimental class so please be patient with us as we work our way through. The syllabus and labs are subject to change. 

Important links:

Lecture slides

Expectations & Grading

• This is a portfolio based class. Labs, homework, and exams will all be submitted via GitHub pull requests (PRs). 
• There is no textbook. Lecture attendance is mandatory as that is the only place the material will be presented.
• You must submit all 8 labs to pass the course, and laboratory attendance is required. At the discretion of your TA, you may miss one lab (the lab must still be turned in, though possibly with a later due date.)
• You will work closely with your lab partner, but you will turn in separate labs via PR. The labs are expected to take 4-6 hours each, so significant work outside the scheduled laboratory time will be necessary.

Accessibility

We endeavor to make the course welcoming and accessible to all students. Standard accessibility requests will be handled through DRS. Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/). 

People 

Miguel F. Morales ( miguelfm@uw.edu; office hours Tuesday after class in 325 and by appointment)

Tuesday Lab:  Alex Schuy alexjschuy@gmail.com, GitHub @AlexSchuy

Wed Lab:  Shifeng Zhu sfzhu@uw.edu, GitHub @sfzhu

Thursday & Friday Labs:  Olivia Thomas otthomas@uw.edu, GitHub @oliviatessa